1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile communication terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of displaying a menu screen in a mobile communication terminal and the system thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commonly, a “mobile communication terminal” refers to a device with which a user can make a call or exchange data with another party while easily carrying the device from place to place, such as a cellular phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Personal Communication Services (PCS) phone, an International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT)-2000 terminal, or a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) terminal.
Such mobile communication terminals are being recognized as necessities, without distinction of a user's age or sex, all over the world. Accordingly, a tendency of such mobile communication terminals is toward miniaturizing, sliming, and weight reduction to enhance portability, and toward providing multimedia features with which more various functions can be pursued.
Mobile communication terminals originally introduced a phone call function, and thereafter introduced a short message service function, a memory function with which a user can store and search for telephone numbers, a lock function, an alarm function, an area number identification function, and various additional functions, such as a camera function, a digital broadcast receive function, a game function, and so on. Accordingly, the number of menu items displayed on a display screen of such a mobile communication terminal has gradually increased over time.
However, since general mobile communication terminals have relatively small-sized display screens as compared to personal computers (PCs) or PDAs having large-sized display screens, a mobile communication terminal typically displays menu items in a scroll method using direction keys. That is, the mobile communication terminal first displays a predetermined number of menu items on a display screen, and then displays remaining menu items, which have not yet been displayed on the screen, by moving a cursor using direction keys or a volume key.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are illustrations of a conventional menu screen of a mobile communication terminal. It is assumed, for example, that there are nine total menu items related to an electronic diary function of the mobile communication terminal.
Specifically, FIG. 1A shows only six menu items, from “1. morning call” to “6. world clock”, among the nine total menu items related to the electronic diary function of the mobile communication terminal.
Due to this, a user of the mobile communication terminal cannot easily determine how many menu items are related to the electronic diary function or easily determine what kind of menu items are included, through the screen of the mobile communication terminal shown in FIG. 1A. If the user wants to determine this information, the user is required to check the remaining three menu items by moving a cursor using direction keys or a volume key as shown in FIG. 1B
Thus, when a user uses a mobile communication terminal having a relatively small-sized screen as compared to a PC, the user cannot easily determine what kind of menu items are included, except for those menu items displayed on a screen of the mobile communication terminal. If the user wants to select a desired menu item, the user is further required to perform more key operations.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for effectively and efficiently displaying a menu screen in a mobile communication terminal and the system thereof.